China’s most energy inefficient province

Ningxia is a land of mountains and desert and is one of the poorest provinces in China, but it also has some of China’s richest coal reserves and it has big plans to develop them. Coal provides two-thirds of China’s energy, so there’s a big market for it. This promotional video for the region tells of how the region uses its coal energy responsibly and doesn’t waste, and uses the most modern equipment. This factory head says his factory recycles waste water and coal dust to make bricks. When asked about energy inefficiency, he says all this recycling actually means his plant uses 25% more energy. China’s cabinet has reprimanded Ningxia for being at the bottom of the list in energy efficiency, but blaming the province is not fair says this analyst. He says provinces should be nabbed based on their potential to be more efficient and Ningxia should be given lower targets because it’s difficult to develop the province. Ningxia’s development has focused on industries dependent on energy like coal, but even then Ningxia uses less than 1% of China’s total energy. So the relative impact of its energy inefficiency remains small. This analyst says that doesn’t let Ningxia off the hook. The Ningxia governor has even pledged to resign if Ningxia doesn’t meet its goal of reducing energy inefficiency.